John Depp Special Agent. Book I: Deadly Pride

Chapter 2: New Chief, New Job

John drove to the FBI Central Office to report for duty. He didn't have to go today but after the charming encounter he had with his beloved wife and loyal partner, he thought it was better to put his mind to work. When he arrived at the J. Edgar Hoover Building located at 935 Pennsylvania Avenue, he went into the garage and parked his car. He and Duke got out of the car. They started walking towards the entrance.William was also getting back to work. He saw John and Duke, he stopped the car right before John and got out of John's SUV. William ran towards him and he tried to hit John but he dodged the blow and that made William lose his balance and fall. William got on his feet and shouted at John "How dare you take money from me? I want it back!""I didn't take your money I got MY salary back since you've been leaving in MY house and fucking MY wife. It was a refund!" John retorted.Not far away, in his car, Dr. Morgan Freeman was answering a text message and witnessed the fight between John and William. Morgan was fond of John and he guessed John didn't know about William being promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, so it wasn't good for John to fight William. The outcome could be a disaster. He decided to step in.William looked at John with disdain and spat, "Be careful how you talk to me I am your chief!"John was dumbfounded, "My what??? Come again!"William informed John he should go to the cold-case department from that moment. John complained but William declared that it was normal procedure to stay out of the streets after an undercover operation, John knew that sending him to cold cases was like sending him to the North Pole!Morgan approached them and greeted them cheerfully pretending he hadn't heard their discussion, "Good afternoon Chief, Hi John, good to see you back! Ah, and congratulations!!!" They both looked confused at Morgan, "Your promotion..." Morgan added."What promotion?" William and John said at the same time."Well you're an experienced field agent, and as the chief said, you cannot work on the field for some time. I assume you were promoted to Chief of the Cold-Case Department. Chief Baldwin has sent you there. Agent Smith retired last week and he still hasn't got a replacement. Who better than you to run that department, the other guys there have almost no experience at all! Chief Baldwin and you have been partners for so long. I imagine he would have a good job in store for you, especially since it was mostly because of your teamwork that he is our new chief. Am I wrong, Chief Baldwin? Besides it would feel weird that now one is the chief and the other the subordinate when last week you were partners. Don't you agree Chief?"Morgan was a well-respected agent. He has worked in the FBI for decades. Nobody dares to contradict him. He must have a certain influence on the Director. William wasn't happy with the idea of promoting John but at least he would take him off his back. He reluctantly agreed. He knew his brother was behind his promotion and that in fact, it was due to John's work he got it so he needed to stay clear and avoid any office conflict, "Yes, of course, anything for my good friend, John!"When John was about to talk, Morgan cut him off and said, "Great! Well go to the office and get your things and the designation papers so you can introduce yourself to the Cold-Case Department. Don't worry about your dog, I will take it to your new office and wait for you there. There are lots of things we need to talk about!" Morgan patted Duke's head and started walking towards the elevators, when he saw that John and William weren't moving, he looked at them and said, "Are you coming?"William was the first to answer, "Yes, sure." He didn't want to be left alone with John. They walked behind Morgan.In the elevator, William said he wouldn't have John's designation papers that day. Morgan looked at him and inquired, "But if you don't, John will be in the office all day doing nothing. Unless you need his help, in that case, it would be useful to have him close..." He intentionally lingered on the word 'close'.William knew he had no choice and told John to follow him. "By the way John, you cannot bring that pet to the office!" William ordered."I don't know if you are aware but I just moved out of my house and my ex-wife and her new lover got me a shitty apartment where I can't leave the dog alone. So, as I told the landlord, be patient it's only temporary," John said through gritted teeth."Oh, I didn't know you were getting a divorce John, let me know if I can help you," Morgan said. When they got to the sixth floor, William and John stepped off the elevator.John turned to look at Morgan and Duke, "Behave, buddy!"Morgan blinked sympathetically at John. "Don't take long John, I'll be waiting at your new office."John nodded and followed William into his office but stayed at the door. William sat down at his desk and saw that John remained at the door, he typed the designation papers on his computer and printed several copies. He signed them and gave them to John, "Take these copies to the personnel department to seal them, they will keep a copy to add to your file and another copy to send to the accounting department to adjust your new salary." William felt frustrated he had just promoted the man who had humiliated him, attacked him, and robbed him! Unfortunately, he had no choice but to swallow his pride; he couldn't afford any kind of scandal. Then he reminded John, "Remember to change your current address in your file personal information."John took the papers and turned around without saying a word, William was playing with fire!John went to the personnel department and handed over the papers, took a sealed copy for him, and went to the Cold-Case Department where Morgan was waiting for him with Duke. John looked at the eight stunned agents in the department and said, "I am the new chief, I need to speak something to Dr. Freeman, we will talk later!" he stepped into his office and closed the door.Outside his office, the agents looked at each other, "Isn't that Special Agent John Depp? Why is he here? I heard he is one of the best field agents we have." One of the agents commented.Other shrugged and said, "Who has he pissed off to be sent here?""That's impossible, he's been undercover and he's the new chief former partner!" Another agent explained.In the office, John looked quite pissed, "What the fuck was that Morgan? What were you trying to do by suggesting I took charge of this department? What on earth were you thinking?" John demanded."Calm down John!" Morgan replied, "Let me explain myself" John was all ears, he sat down and signaled Morgan to go on. "Well, I saw what happened in the garage. You didn't know about William's promotion, fighting him would only get you fired. From what I heard I presumed you moved out of your house because of him. In that case, it is better not to share the same working space with him. Think about this carefully. He was going to send you here to get rid of you anyway. But now I got you a promotion and that doesn't mean only a better paycheck, it means power. You are the chief now!" Morgan explained."Morgan, you know I am a field agent I cannot be locked in this office all day. I will go crazy!" John replied."You are not getting it, John! You ARE THE CHIEF! You don't need anybody's permission to make changes. Think about all the good work you can get done by running this department, you could give victims' families closure." Morgan resumed."How? Have you seen those agents!" John complained."That's your job. Get the office organized, and take them to shooting practice. Organize the cases as you see fit. As chief of this department you can reopen cases, and send samples to be examined, some of these case samples never got DNA tests, so you can order those tests. If you are half as good as I think you are you could find a connection between some cases and find some of those crimes were committed by the same perpetrator. If you want revenge you can solve the cases your former partner couldn't solve before you became his partner and humiliate him." Morgan suggested.John looked at Morgan and said "Hmmm, I haven't considered all those advantages..." He looked lost in his thoughts.Morgan went on, "But first things first, your wife... bank account, insurance... You need to think about these things. I know you think it's so sudden but believe me it is better for you to solve all these things as soon as possible.""Oh, all that was taken care of this morning. I closed the bank account, canceled the credit cards, withdrew the money, opened a new account, and canceled the family car and home insurance, and her life insurance as well. I also changed her for my mother as the beneficiary of my life insurance policy." John told Morgan."Well done. Prepare yourself, whenever Amy finds out she will torture you on the phone or even go to your apartment." Morgan added."That bitch got all my stuff in a storage facility and moved my clothing and other personal stuff to a shitty apartment in a shitty neighborhood, I need to find a new place. It is fucking infested with all kinds of pests!" John complained. "I need to find a realtor to help me with that. Do you know anyone you can recommend to me?"Morgan offered, "I have a guest house; it is a two-bedroom house on top of the garage. Duke can use the garden. There's also room in the garage for another car. You won't bother me, and it will be perfect to discuss the cases outside this office, you know there are ears on these walls.""Are you sure? I don't want to be an imposition!" John said."No problem, it's empty anyway. You need to call your friend in the DA office, you need to make your divorce official. You shouldn't be married to the chief's woman, especially if she is pregnant. If they split up and you're still married, you will have to pay child support until you prove you're not the father of the child. Get rid of that woman as soon as possible" Morgan reminded John."Thanks, Morgan. I will move to your place today and call James, too; so we can meet tomorrow." John thanked Morgan."Don't mention it. I will leave the keys under the doormat of the guest house and I will write the address and the security number of the gate door on this paper so you can open it when you get there. If you need anything I will be in the lab. See you around." Added Morgan and left John's office.John went outside his office to talk to the eight agents under his command. Outside his glass office, there were three rows of six desks. John said hello and introduced himself.One of the agents asked him if he was 'THE John Depp' everyone talked about, John laughed, and another one asked why he accepted that designation when he was said to be one of the best agents the FBI had.John just told them about the regulation that said that undercover agents should be out of the streets after an assignment and without entering into details he told them his partnership with the new DC office chief hadn't ended on good terms so he preferred to stay as far away from him as possible. And then he told them he wanted to know how that department worked to see if they needed to make any changes. When he was about to ask them to introduce themselves, there was a knock on the door.They all turned their heads to the door and Chief William Baldwin entered followed by several other people.